Digimon Tamers: Tale of Hatred: Book 1
by KylarPierce
Summary: Takato was very familiar with hatred. He hated this feeling. He hated what it did to him. He hated what it did to his partner. He hated the power it gave him. He hated that this new threat could use the same power. He hated that he needed to use this power. Takes place six years after Runaway Locomon. Rukato. Rikato. RikaxTakato. Rated for language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

Author Notes: I want to start this by saying sorry, I know it has been a while since I've updated my other stories and I will get to those. Since, writing those I have switched jobs twice, as well as my parents have opened their own store leaving me with little time to write in between work. I will be updating those stories, but I feel I should take pride in my work and give you the best I can give. While my other two stories will be taking place in a preset line of events as the original creators made, I am taking time in planning out how the other characters would reasonably respond to the changes without compromising their own character (I don't want to write myself into a corner so I am making sure to plan ahead). Unlike those stories, this one will be taking place after the anime thus; I will have more creative freedom. In addition, I have a tendency to go through phases on what is on my mind, that is not to say I have abandoned those stories, merely put them on the back burner while I plan them out (I have never been one for being told to write down a certain path, and I find it difficult to warp my mind into merging with another authors chain of events). It is because of those reasons that this story will most likely be updated far more regularly than my other two. I know this will get some people angry and I am sorry for that, but try to understand, I started writing to get my ideas out and have fun, I love those stories and where they will go, but I need to get them there at my own pace. On a slightly related note, this story takes place six years after Runaway Locomon, I will not be using fan made Digimon or techniques (only those that can be found on the Wiki), and it will be a Rukato (unlike my other stories this will not change). Thank you for your understanding, and please enjoy the story.

Tamers ages:

Takato: 18

Rika: 19

Henry: 19

Jeri: 18

Kazu: 18

Kenta: 18

Ryo: 21

Ai & Mako: 12

Suzie: 13

Talking- "hello"

Thinking- " _hello_ "

Attacks- " **hello** "

Chapter 1:

A young man, clad in his high schools grey uniform, walked calmly through the park, which was not too far from his house, on his way to school. The man had just finished dropping off his gluttonous, dinosaur of a partner's breakfast and was already late for class, but he felt no need to hurry. It was the second to last week of school before graduation and it was a beautiful day out, besides his teacher usually gave him more leeway than other students. The growing teen let a large grin break across his face as his fingers rubbed the plastic of the other worldly device clipped to the left side, while his other hand wrapped softly around the goggles clipped to the right. The young man was living the dream he has had since he was a child, he was a digidestined, he was a Digimon Tamer. The teen looked up to the cloudless, blue sky smiling brightly, he and his friends had saved the entire world on multiple occasions, he was a hero. Shoving his hands in his pockets, the young man let loose a sigh of content before continuing to his destination, he was Takato Matsuki, and he wasn't sure how his life could get any better.

"Takato", a child like voice cried out from behind Takato. The boy in question turned his head over his shoulder with a small frown and a questing eyebrow rose, just to see the red blur of his partner Guilmon racing towards him.

"Guilmon? What are you doing here, boy; I already gave you your breakfast" Takato questioned as his partner came to a stop next to him, a feral look in the dinos eyes.

"A Digimon", Guilmon stated simply, "A strong one and its heading right for us." Takato eyes widened, briefly wondering why his Digivice had not alerted him to the threat. The young Tamers eyes narrowed into the direction his partner was growling at, quickly spotting a large green blur bouncing up and down through the trees, followed by a news helicopter in the distance. Seeing the speed in which the new threat was approach, the brown haired youth unclipped his D-Ark and pulled it to the ready. No sooner than Takato finished, the massive green blur crashed down in front of him, destroying the ground underneath it, sending rubble flying through the air from the rough landing.

"Takato Matsuki", a deep grumble of a voice rang out as the dust began to clear, "leader of the Tamers, you shall be the first to die for the sins of your species." As the voice finished, the colossal figure raised a massive, golden sword towards the red eyed youth, black smoke seeping from the blade, as if creating darkness itself. Steeling his nerves, Takato raised his D-Ark to the monstrosity, and allowed the device to pull up the beast information. The young man's mouth went dry and eyes went wide as he began to read the information presented to him.

"Titamon", the voice of Henry Wong called out, in a shaking voice, "Virus type, God Man Digimon, Mega level, the One-Man Division, an ultimate being of hatred, comprised entirely of the foul emotion, his Soul Core-Attack and Pact with Nether-god attacks leave nothing but corpses in their wake." Henry swallowed the lump in his throat as he stuffed his D-Ark back into the pocket of his grey uniform, returning his attention to the Television his teacher had set up, displaying the news of the monster landing in front of his best friend. Tearing his eyes from the TV, Henry looked around the room to see how his other friends were handling the news. Directly in front of Henry, Jeri Katou had her hands tightly clamped in front of her mouth, her body trembling slightly and her eyes shone brightly with fear and worry for their long time friend. To Jeri's left, Kazu Shioda sat with a frown plastered on his face, while he was worried for Takato, he knew if anyone could handle this mega, it would be Takato. To Jeri's right, Kenta Kitagawa leaned over his desk, chewing nervously on his finger nails, obviously hoping to get out of the room quickly with his Pixie partner in order to heal any damage Takato may receive during the battle. Looking slightly behind him, Henry spotted the fiery haired tamer, Rika Nonaka, Angrily tapping her fingers on her desk with such force Henry was surprised they didn't start chipping the wood. The red haired tamer had a scowl firmly planted on her face as she glared with pure malice at the goggle headed boy's opponent. " _Probably hoping he'll burst into flames_ ", Henry thought with a chuckle. Glancing at the empty seat directly behind him, to Rika's left; Henry couldn't help but wish his friend had been on time for class just this once. Henry's attention was quickly brought to his creamy colored rabbit partner, Terriermon, as the Digimon gripped Henry's hair in anxiety, a serious look on his face for once, and his eyes glued to the television.

"Will, you let us go help now?" Rika growled, shifting her gaze from the television to their teacher, whom was sitting behind his desk, nervously watching the news.

"I'm sorry, Miss Nonaka, after Mister Shioda decided to pretend there was an attack, in order to get out of a math test; the principal has made a very strict rule that none of you tamers are allowed to leave class prior to Hypnos or your parents relieving you", the teacher replied, shifting his gaze to meet hers, a smile frown plastered on his face.

"This is clearly not a trick! Besides, it almost the end of the school year, why would we ditch", the red haired girl snarled back, not liking the fact that all she could do was sit back and watch.

"I'm sorry, but rules are rules, if you leave without permission, you will not be allowed to graduate", came the stern reply from her teacher, his frown deepening. The Digimon Queen let loose a demonic growl before turning a hateful glare to the boy that had caused this asinine rule to be instated; Kazu merely shrunk back, rubbing his neck nervously. Henry, watching the exchange unfold, chuckled inwardly, " _she's grown rather protective of our resident gogglehead_ ", he thought quietly to himself. Remembering the time when himself and Jeri had decided to announce that they were officially a couple, Henry had found himself on the wrong end of the fiery haired tamers war path for "going behind Takato's back" and "betraying his best friend". In between gasping for air, as the angry teen had settled to choke the life out of him, he was able to explain that it had been Takato that had set the two up. Luckily, with Takato there to calm the temperamental teen down, she had begrudgingly agreed to allow the blue haired tamer to live, but not before promising that if she found out this had hurt Takato in any way, that she'd personally remove his ability to have kids. Remembering this caused Henry to pale just the same as when she had hissed it to him back then, however, the rabbit tamer, had little time to sort his thoughts on the past as a bright light shined from the screen, bringing his attention back to the present.

"Gallantmon", the Royal Knight Digimon cried, in a mixture of Takato and Guilmon's voices. Gallantmon brought the holy lance, Gram that his right hand had morphed into, up and over the mighty shield, Aegis, which was once his left hand. The Exalted Knight studied his opponent looking for an opening to strike. The Titan of Revenge stood tall; his massive golden sword was held loosely in its right hand, his forearm clad with golden skulls, the helm upon his head decorated with long, golden horns, the rest of his body covered in golden or dark green armor, in stark contrast to the light green skin of his unprotected chest.

"Finally decided to stop talking and fight?" Titamon exclaimed, glowing red eyes glaring heavily down on his armored opponent.

"You weren't giving me any information to work with anyways, so why delay this any longer", Gallantmon replied, raising his gaze to match the goliaths glare with his own. A blood curling smirk broke across the monstrosities face as he began to approach his enemy, heavy footsteps shaking the earth beneath him like a force of nature.

" **Lightning Joust** ", Gallantmon cried, stepping forward and sending a blast of blue energy hurdling towards his opponent. Titamon's smirk grew as he raised his massive sword to intercept the attack. The holy knight's attack crashed into the skull that was the cross guard of the sword, leaving a small plume of smoke rising from the area of impact, but leaving behind no damage in its wake. With a barbaric scream Titamon leapt forward, his colossal blade brought up high before crashing down on where the knight stood. Gallantmon, seeing his opponent charge forward, quickly rolled to his left as the blade carved easily through the ground, sending debris flying in all directions. Regaining his composure, the Royal Knight brought himself back to his feet turning left and bringing himself all the way back around, he slammed his large shield into his opponents armored head. The raging goliath was forced to take a step back with a pained snarl, the power of the blow disorienting him. Not wasting the opening, Gallantmon quickly taking a small jump back, he sent another blast of energy from his lance directly into Titamon's chest. In a crack of power and a groan of anger, the green goliath was sent sliding back, placing greater space between the two combatants.

A growl of anger escaped Titamon's throat as he brought his sword up a draped it across his massive shoulders, a trail of smoke clearing off the monsters chest revealing no damage done to the exposed, green skin. With a berserk roar, the titan Digimon charged his opponent once again, swinging his large sword down in a massive arc, intent on cleaving the knight in two. Seeing the attack incoming, Gallantmon raised his shield, blocking the blade, allowing it to slide down his protection and crash into the ground behind him. Twist his hips, the knight spun into a jump slamming his lance into the jaw of the towering beast. With a resounding crack, Titamon's head snapped up to the right, forcing his gaze into the clear, blue sky. Without hesitation, Titamon's free left hand grabbed Gallantmon's torso, without even bothering to look down. Bringing his face dangerously close to the knights, the goliath unleashed a blood thirsty roar before effortlessly tossing Gallantmon away, causing the knight to tumble and skid across the ground of the open park.

With a groan, Gallantmon quickly regained his senses, and was able to see Titamon soaring through the air towards him. Scrambling up, the Royal Knight was barely able to jump out of the way as a colossal, green and gold fist crashed into where he laid seconds ago. Turning to face his opponent, Gallantmon had just enough time to raise his shield to block the massive sword, which struck with enough force to take the armored Digimon off his feet once again. Flipping mid-air, Gallantmon was able to land on his feet and face the hate filled Digimon once again, only to see the monster charge at him once again like a crazed animal.

" **Lightning Joust** ", the exalted knight cried, stabbing Gram into the ground. With a crack of thunder, and a small explosion, the air was quickly filled with a thick cloud of dust.

" **Soul Core-Attack** ", the God Man shouted, as he slashed heavily through the cloud with no resistance. Titamon released a snarl as Gallantmon rolled between his massive legs, unnoticed. Quickly rising to his feet, the knight raised his shield to his opponents exposed back, symbols already glowing.

" **Shield of the Just** ", Gallantmon bellowed, firing a crimson beam of energy from the center of his shield. The blast struck the goliath directly in the back, throwing him clear across the field. The Royal Knight lowered his shield to see Titamon snarling on his hands and knees, a pillar of smoke slowly dissipating from his back. As the smoke left, and Titamon's breathing calmed, the bubbling, burned skin of the God Man's back was exposed for the world to see. Rising to his feet, Titamon sent a heated glare at his opponent, before letting a blood curling sneer seep back onto his face.

"So, you won't roll over and just die easily, eh?" Titamon roared, "Very well, I'll crush your spirit, then I'll crush your body! **Pact with Nether-god**!" With the announcement of his technique, Titamon stabbed his sword into the ground and spread his arms far apart, palms wide open. Dark smoke flooded from the skulls on the God Man's forearms, pouring and dancing into the air above him. Slowly, the smoke began to condense together and solidify. Clouds of black smoke formed together into skulls matching the ones used to summon them, next three fingered, razor sharp claws formed; the rest of the creatures remained in a semi solid smoke like form. It did not take Gallantmon long to realize he was completely surrounded by an army of these black Shades, all facing their armored target, all with claws ready to rip him to shreds.

"Oh, that is so not fair!" Kazu cried out in exasperation, watching as his armored friend was surrounded by legions of nightmare soldiers.

"I have to go help him!" Rika exclaimed, rising to her feet, posed to head out the door.

"Sit down, Miss Nonaka, I told you already; if you leave you will be made to repeat this entire year!" Mr. Tanaka, the tamers teacher, shouted, though from the tone of his voice, he was clearly questioning his superior's rule.

"Damn it Yamaki, hurry the hell up!" the red haired teen yelled furiously, while slamming back down at her desk. The furious teen quickly turned a hate filled glare towards Kazu before snarling, "If Takato gets so much as a scratch because I couldn't get there in time, I will rip your head off and shove it up your own ass, Visor boy!"

Kazu, hearing this threat, paled considerably before frantically looking out the window hoping to spot a man in a suit heading for the school entrance. The panicking teen's search was cut off, however when another flash of light came from the television, indicating Gallantmon had begun battling his new opponents.

Gallantmon's Lightning Joust tore through the shades of darkness, as if the light of the attack itself was damaging them. Not even wasting the time to see the damage of his attack, Gallantmon spun around slamming his shield into the creatures of darkness lunging at him from behind, dissipating them instantly. Sensing another attack coming, the knight turned around and stabbed Gram into the Shade that had propelled itself into the air, hoping to catch him off guard. The Royal Knight brought his lance back down with a spin, destroying all the abominations that had been closing in on him. The Exalted Knight didn't have much time to rest, however as another Shade took the opportunity to leap onto his back; attaching one claw to his left shoulder the creature brought its second claw down onto the right side of Gallantmon's head, causing sparks to fly and a pained grunt to escape the struggling knight.

Reaching up, Gallantmon grabbed the creature by the head and pulled it over his shoulder, slamming it into the ground in front of him. The crimson knight quickly brought his metallic foot down on the Shade destroying it instantly, however this left him open as another Shade slashed his back, tearing his cape and leaving three keep claw marks in his armor. With a pained cry, Gallantmon spun around and slammed Aegis into the Shade, destroying it easily. Seeing more posed to attack, the Royal Knight leapt into the air as three more of the demonic monstrosities lunged at him from different angles, their claws meeting each other where he once stood. Pull his right arm back, Gallantmon began to charge energy into it for his next attack, while shifting himself mid air so that he was now facing downwards.

" **Lightning Joust** ", Gallantmon bellowed, thrusting Gram towards the ground, and the legions of monsters beneath him. Blue energy jumped from the mighty lance and hurled its way towards the uncaring horde, where it landed with a massive explosion and a blinding light. The helicopter hovering not too far in the distance began to swerve and swivel at the shock waves of the attacks, something that Gallantmon took notice of as he began to slowly fall to the outer side of the now nearly decimated army. The Royal Knight had little time to dwell on this, however as a laughing Titamon leapt into the air and roughly grabbed hold of his leg and throwing him harshly back into the center of the still numerous dark legions. The ground cracked and shattered as Gallantmon came crashing down into it, releasing gasp of pain and agony.

Pushing himself back onto his feet, Gallantmon made note that the forces were already moving in on him as he began to formulate a plan. The holy knight was not allowed that luxury as the wave of attacks began anew. Slashing with both shield and lance, Gallantmon slowly made his way out of the crater, while fending off the nearly endless onslaught. The Royal Knights armor now had small cracks all around from his impact with the ground; this was the least of his worries as another shade slashed him across the chest, leaving more deep cuts across his armor. Swiftly kicking the abomination into oblivion, Gallantmon let loose a tormented scream as yet another Shade stabbed its claws straight through his right shoulder pad, data seeping out from in between its claws. The Royal Knight exploded in a primal roar before grabbing the dark creature and crushing its skull in his hand; he then twisted his body before jabbing the pointed tip of Gram into the now destroyed earth. Dragging Gram with him, Gallantmon began to spin before leaping into the air, a trail of fire and harsh wind following in his wake.

" **Spiral Saver** ", Gallantmon cried, as a tornado of fire began to form around his still spinning body. The blazing twister began to expand rapidly, moving erratically it tore through the Shades, slaughtering the dark legions in seconds.

"Holy shit! That was fucking amazing!" Kazu exclaimed in amazement at seeing Gallantmon's fiery attack.

"I'll say", Rika mumbled quietly, awe in her voice and worry sketched onto her face "but how long has he been able to do that, and why is this, the first I'm seeing of it?"

"I don't know exactly how long he has had it, but I do know he gained it through training with Guilmon", Henry explained with a small smile on his face before turning towards his red haired friend "He was planning on surprising you with it during our last training session, but you ended up having to miss it when your mom dragged you to the mall to go clothes shopping. He ended up springing it on Ryo, knocked him and Cyberdramon out cold."

"He was trying to surprise me?" Rika questioned, raising an elegant eyebrow "That's stupid, why didn't he just tell me?"

"Momentai" Terriermon giggled, hopping off of Henry's head and onto Rika's shoulder "He was trying to impress you." The Digimon Queen's eyes widened slightly at this before snapping shut and turning away with an annoyed hum, her normally pale cheeks colored a slight pink.

"Wait, where the hell was I when this happened?" Kazu exclaimed in confusion.

"You dragged Kenta off to see if you could find Rika and get some pictures of her in a dress", Jeri explained with a slight giggle.

"Ummm, excuse me", a nervous voice from the doorway interrupted the chatter. A tall, dark haired man stood in the now open door, wearing a black suit with a Hypnos badge over his left pectoral. If it had not been for the fact the yellow kitsune had materialized outside the doorway half a second later, the tamers would have sworn Renamon had phased her tamer out of class due to the speed in which the red haired girl had rushed out of the room and towards the exit.

Gallantmon dropped down to a single knee, panting heavily, as the wind and flames around him dissipated. Raising his head slightly, the Royal knight saw Titamon slowly approaching, flanked by the last two Shades and a twisted smirk upon his face. With a heavy breath, the holy knight lifted himself to his feet once more, readying Gram and Aegis for yet another clash. In his exhausted state, Gallantmon could do little as the green goliath charged forward and quickly encased the knight in his left hand. The God Man slammed his exalted knight opponent into the ground, shattering the earth once again, before haphazardly throwing him towards the shadowy minions. The abominations wasted no time in grabbing hold of Gallantmon's arms and heaving the knight up to his feet. With his head still hung low, the crimson knight shifted his gaze into the direction his colossal opponent was coming from, only to be met with the sight of a green fist hurdling towards him, as Titamon threw a low hanging hand into a devastating uppercut, sending the lancer flying out of the Shade's grasp.

Landing with a heavy thud, Gallantmon quickly pushed himself up onto his elbows in time to see Titamon soaring through the air towards him once again. Rolling out of the way, the Royal Knight narrowly avoided the golden sword the carved down into the ground where he once laid. The exalted knight was stopped from standing up when a large foot came crashing down on to his back, sending him deeper into the earth below. Moving his foot, Titamon reached down and grabbed his armored opponent by the head before raising him high into the air and swing back down into the ground. Smirking down at his armored, the green goliath chuckled as he slashed down at him, the massive, golden sword cutting cleanly through the earth and striking the knight Digimon. Sparks shined off as the metal of the blade clashed with Gallantmon's armor, the force of the blow sending him airborne once again, now with a deep, horizontal cut in his plated bicep. Titamon laughed as he charged where Gallantmon had landed, sword raised high intent on continuing his onslaught; only to be forced to spin to his right as the knight thrust Gram into the direction he was charging from.

" **Lightning Joust** ", Gallantmon cried as Titamon spun out of the way of his pointed weapon. A blast of blue energy flew past the colossal Digimon and towards its intended target, the two remaining Shades that were following the battle in the distance. Seeing the attack coming, the dark terrors attempted to slide out of the way of the holy energy, but the one sliding to its right was unable to escape in time and was vaporized instantly. Not caring as his minions fell; Titamon smashed his golden blade down onto the knight, only to have his opponent raise the shield, Aegis, and block his mighty strike. Gallantmon dropped down to a knee under the force of Titamon's slash, his left leg becoming a blur as he now struggled to keep himself from falling apart at the seams. Seeing his opponent's weakness Titamon kicked the crimson knight in the stomach, causing the armor to cave in slightly as a pained gasp escaped Gallantmon and he was sent sliding back away from the goliath. Gallantmon released a growl as he raised his shield to his colossal opponent, symbols on the shield glowing once again.

" **Shield of the Just** " Takato and Guilmon's voices bellowed, once again firing a wave of crimson energy from the center of his shield. The holy knight's red attack collided into Titamon's exposed chest sending the colossus flying back with a roar of agony. Shifting his attention slightly to his right, the Royal Knight caught a glimpse of the final Shade soaring towards him. Attempting to side step the incoming attack, the exalted knight wasn't able to completely avoid the incoming claws as they clashed harshly with his left shoulder pad, ripping the chunk of arm away from its host. With a pained grunt, Gallantmon pierced his lance through the final minion as it flew past, destroying the last of the dark legions.

"Well done, Matsuki", sneered the deep voice of Titamon, drawing the young man's attention, seeing the bubbling scarred skin of the God Man's chest "but where are your fellow tamers? Surely they know you are battling me alone, yet they have not come to help yet. Maybe they don't care for you as much as you had originally thought? Maybe they don't want to help you at all?"

"They'll be here, Titamon", came the unwavering reply of Gallantmon, no doubt in his tone or in his mind that his back up was on its way "and when they get here, you're as good as deleted."

"Perhaps", Titamon chuckled, venom dripping from his tone as he readied his sword once again "but will you live long enough to see them arrive?"

"Sakuyamon, you need to hurry", the calm voice of Yamaki rang through the priestess' head, using satellites to communicate with the Data mega "Gallantmon just finished off the last of those smoke creatures, but he's about to face Titamon again and he's in bad shape. Justimon and Beelzemon are on their way, but they're coming from farther away and should arrive just before you." The Shaman Digimon merely grunted in response, while the red haired tamer in the Digicore felt her stomach drop, her face scrunching in worry. Sakuyamon vaguely noted the sound of MegaGargomon's jets kicked into overdrive forcing him to move towards the park at an even greater speed; she didn't dwell on this however as she willed herself forward as well, pushing herself to her limits in hopes of making it to her gogglehead before it was too late.

"Man, this is so unfair, why do we have to stay behind, Chumley needs our help", Kazu grumbled, biting his lip at the screen, praying his friend will be alright.

"I'm sorry, but we can't risk placing more people into danger, only Tamers with the ability to biomerge are permitted to go", the Hypnos agent said sadly, a frown on his brow.

"Yeah, we know you've said that like eight times", Kazu mumbled bitterly.

"Then why do you keep asking that like you're confused", Jeri snapped at her brown haired friend. Kazu looked to her in surprise, but seeing the fear in her trembling eyes, all he could do is bite his lip and hang his head in shame.

"Please, Takato, just hold out a little longer, help is on the way", Kenta whispered in a sober tone, tears already forming in his eyes.

Once again, Titamon let out a feral roar as he began charging towards his opponent, this time he was met with the knight matching his charge with one of his own. The two combatants quickly closed the distance between one another, the green goliath started with a low sweeping slash, only to have the Royal Knight jump over the attack and land on the beasts left shoulder, delivering a heavy kick to Titamon's face with his forward moment. With his opponent disoriented from the blow, Gallantmon hopped of the green shoulder twisting mid air so that he landed in position to stab the monster in the back, only to be met with the God Man quickly spinning around and delivering a bone crunching back hand, sending the knight flying.

Twisting as he hurdled through the air Gallantmon shouted, " **Lightning Joust** " sending a quick bolt of blue energy crashing into Titamon's head, but distracted by launching his own attack, the knight was ill prepared for his own landing and slammed into the ground once again. The exalted knight's attack only served to aggravate his opponent, as Titamon charge the downed knight with no hindrance; Gallantmon didn't even have time to get up before a massive green hand encased him and lifted him from the ground. The enraged God Man lifted the crimson knight high above his head before throwing him into the ground with as much force as he could muster, sending debris and a small shock wave out in all directions. Gallantmon hastily moved Aegis above him as the golden sword was quickly brought high into the sky before being brought heavily down onto the knight. A clang of metal sounded out as sparks began to fly when the two armaments clashed, crushing the wounded knight deeper into the earth. The pressure on the lancer's shield suddenly disappeared, giving the knight slight relief, only to return with greater force. Titamon began to laugh like a maniac as he began to swing down wildly on his opponents shield, hoping to crush the mega Digimon underneath. In his berserker state, the colossus failed to notice the shield beneath him began to glow.

" **Shield of the Just** ", the duel voice of Gallantmon cried out, a small tone of panic gracing the edge of his voice. The red beam erupted from the Royal Knight's shield and blazed its way straight into Titamon's head, sending the green goliath hurdling skywards before falling back down, harshly landing near the trees at the edge of the clearing far away from Gallantmon. The colossus grabbed his face, screaming and roaring in pure agony. Taking the opportunity presented to him, the holy knight pulled himself out of the earth, dispelling the shield from his left hand as his entire arm became blurry: the data it was made of struggling to hold itself together after the ferocious onslaught. Various parts of the crimson knight's began to blur and fade: the red head piece upon his helm cracked and shattered like glass. With all his injuries, Gallantmon still managed to force his way back to his feet as his opponent began to quiet down and calm his screams.

"You fucking insect", Titamon snarled as he rose to his feet once more "if that's how you want to play it, fine then. Their blood is on your hands." With his words still hanging in the air, the green colossus grabbed a nearby tree with his left hand; splintering the wood under the pressure of his grip he ripped the plant clean out of the ground and tossed it high into the air, hurdling in Gallantmon's direction. The Royal Knight watched as the mass of wood soared clear over his head, his eyes widening when he saw it heading straight for the news helicopter in the distance. The pilot of said aircraft could do little to avoid the tree heading towards them, the size of the plant and speed in which it was approaching made any escape attempt a moot point.

" **Lightning Joust** ", Gallantmon cried, turning around and quickly firing the blue energy into the tree's path, the attack striking the plant quickly turning it into nothing more than ash blowing in the wind. The exalted knight let out a sigh of relief as the smoke quickly cleared revealing the helicopter to be unharmed, as his attacked had destroyed the hunk of wood in time.

" **Soul Core-Attack** ", Titamon's voice roared from behind Gallantmon. Turning his head slightly, the Royal Knight saw the massive blade already descending on him. Takato knew they would not survive the attack head on and there was no way he could block the attack, nor could he dodge it in time, so he went with the only idea that had come to mind. Gallantmon's body shined brightly as he separated into his individual components, Takato and Guilmon. In the final milliseconds before the attack connected, Takato pushed Guilmon to the side, out of the blades path, while stumbling back as he did so. The young tamer however could not move away far enough as he was caught at the edge of the devastating swing; a deep cut tore him from his left shoulder down to his right hip, blood flying high into the air and streaking across the ground. The golden blade didn't stop as it continued down into the earth with a thunderous boom, the shock wave sending the two halves of Gallantmon flying away from the epicenter, Guilmon landing harshly to the side, the injuries they received as the Royal Knight making the red Rookie unable to move, and Takato rolling across the ground, struggling to stay awake as the intense pain in his chest refused to allow slumber to take over. A mechanical roar sounded softly in the distance as a chuckling Titamon slowly made his way to the bleeding body of the young tamer. "What do you know", the God Man sneered in a tone dripping with arrogance "looks like your friends decided they didn't want to help you after all."

Jeri Katou burst into tears at seeing the blood of her childhood friend, clutching her grey skirt in hopes of distracting herself from the images of the boy being cut down. Kenta laid a comforting hand on the weeping girl's shoulder, tears streaming freely down his cheeks as he tried his best to stay strong for his friends present. Kazu ran his tanned fingers through his hair as the colossus approached his friend, gripping his hair tightly he mumbled in a sober tone, "Oh man…. This is all my fucking fault."

A middle aged woman watched the news with her class, wide eyes praying that what she was seeing was some kind of sick joke.

"Ummm, Miss Asagi, weren't you the teacher of some of the tamers a while back?" a male student asked, however he received no answer as tears were streaming down the teacher's face, her mouth open slightly in a silent scream.

An older, Chinese man clutched his wife protectively as she wept tears of fear at what she had just seen. The man had his eyes glued to the television hoping to wake up from this nightmare as the green beast began to approach the fallen child. The older man's eyes grew wide at the scene before him, instinctively pulling his wife closer to him; for the first time in a very long time, Janyu Wong was terrified.

A blonde haired woman let her cup of tea fall to the ground and shatter as she brought her hands up to her mouth to cover her silent scream. The woman's eyes filled with tears as she took in every detail of the horrifying image. The blonde felt a comforting hand lay itself gently onto her shoulder, the unexpected touch causing her to jump slightly. Turning her head slightly, the woman met the eyes of her mother, brimming with tears and an understanding frown across the older woman's face. Without hesitation the younger of the two burst into tears as the older wrapped her arms comfortingly around her daughter; Rumiko Nonaka was terrified.

A woman with short brown hair, barely reaching her shoulders, sobbed loudly into her husband's chest. The man hugged his wife tightly watching the screen with tears streaming down his cheeks, but he had to stay strong. The husband felt the woman squeeze his shirt tighter as her wails of sorrow grew louder. The man knew he had to stay strong, if only for her, but he was scared, no he was terrified, no they, Takehiro and Yoshie Matsuki, were terrified!

"Sakuyamon you need to get there now!" Yamaki's voice roared through the female shaman Digimon's head as the park came into view "Gallantmon is down and Takato is going to need immediate medical care, he's most likely already in critical condition! To make matters worse Titamon is targeting him, trying to finish him off quickly! We have medical teams on the out skirts ready to help, but they can't to him while that Digimon is still there. Get there and delete that thing before it's too late." Hearing those words, Rika felt her blood run cold, a hollow feeling spreading out from her chest as she pushed herself to move faster than she ever has before, focusing on her destination, not caring what gets in her way.

"Don't worry", Titamon said calmly, with a blood thirsty grin as he picked up the bleeding boy "I'll make sure your death is slow, and very painful!" Finishing with a bellowing laughter, the colossal Digimon began to tighten his fist around the poor boy, which forced the boy's eyes to slam and unleashed a heart breaking scream of agony that was heard from even outside the park, due to the pressure his torn body was being placed under.

" **Justice Kick** ", a duel voice cried out as the cyborg Digimon, Justimon, came crashing into Titamon's wrist, forcing the titan to drop the bleeding boy in his grasp. Takato Matsuki began plummeting towards the earth head first at an alarming rate. Seconds before the injured teen hit the ground a black blur zoomed across the field and plucked the boy out of the air before coming to a stop a short distance later; revealing Beelzemon on his motorcycle, Behemoth, cradling the injured young man in his arms. Takato opened a single eye and smiled up at the Demon Lord of Gluttony.

"I knew you guys would make it in time" Takato said weakly before breaking off into a coughing fit as a bit of blood began to fill his lungs.

"'Course we did" Beelzemon replied with a small frown while moving his right hand onto the boys shoulder holding him tightly onto the powerful motorcycle, all the while not taking his eyes off Titamon "What think we'd abandon ya? Hell nah, what woulds we do without our gogglehead? 'Sides, dat red haired girlfriend of yours would go ballistic."

"She's not my girlfriend" Takato mumbled quietly, face colored with a deep blush, causing the demon lord to grin at getting the reaction he was looking for.

"Beelzemon" Justimon shouted while preparing another attack "get Takato out of here and to the medical teams before it's too late! I'll distract big, green and ugly till the others arrive!"

"On it" Beelzemon replied as he moved his left hand up to control the bike. Quickly turn around the bike sped off towards the parks exit and away from Titamon.

"Now, where do they think they're going?" the God Man Digimon mumbled to himself jokingly as he turned towards the speeding demon lord, ready to pursue.

"Not so fast! **Justice Kick**!" Justimon roared, seeing the intent of the goliath's actions. Sending another flying kick towards the green mega at blinding, Justimon was surprised when the titan caught him by the leg easily and casually tossed him aside before Titamon leapt forward and landed in the path of Behemoth. The colossus wasted no time on bringing his massive sword down on the surprised mega, forcing Beelzemon to leapt from his bike while making sure that Takato did not get more injured in the erratic movement, as Behemoth was carved in two.

"Oi, Justice Dork, I don't think he' gonna let any o' us leave with Takato easily, an' we can't afford ta jerk 'im around too much!" Beelzemon shouted to Justimon, while carefully making sure that the gogglehead was still breathing after moving around with such severe injuries. Justimon merely grunted in response as the demon lord was so focused on Takato's injuries that he wasn't paying attention on the green goliath that was slowly reaching for the mega that had figured the still dazed Justimon would have already intervened.

" **Spirit Strike** ", duel female voices called, one of which belonging to Rika Nonaka, as four spirit foxes crashed into Titamon. The attack from the Data type mega did no damage to the green colossus, but it caused him to freeze long enough for Beelzemon, whom had noticed the massive green hand after hearing the attack landing right behind him, to leap out of Titamon's reach. The Avatar of Gluttony landed next to the barely conscious Guilmon, gently laying Takato down in hopes that the lack of movement would help the boy stay with them.

"Sakuyamon", Justimon shouted, finally snapping back to his senses "Titamon won't let us get Takato out of here easily and we can't risk moving him, he's too badly hurt! We have to deal with him quickly so we can get Takato help."

"I know that Mr. Perfect, I heard Beelzemon too. Let's just hurry and kill this son of a bitch" Sakuyamon growled, she had heard Takato's scream on her way here, she didn't need to be told to kill this monster, she was going to make him pay in blood for what he did to her gogglehead.

"Maybe I can help with destroying this bastard" rang the mixture of Terriermon and Henry as the towering Digimon MegaGargomon landed on the trees near the battlegrounds, crushing them under his skyscraper like body " **Power Pummel**!" The Vaccine mega threw his enormous fist towards Titamon, a shock wave shooting off and slamming into the evil God Man, sending him sliding back to the other edge of the clearing with a grunt. MegaGargomon was about to start mocking the large, but still smaller mega, when a noise made him suddenly stop in his tracks; Titamon was chuckling. The green goliath's chuckle soon evolved into full blown laughter, despite being stared down by four other mega level Digimon, two of which having a type advantage.

"This is incredible!" bellowed the green virus in its sickening laughter "I have never felt this powerful before, with this strength I won't even need to use any techniques to decimate you worms!"

"The hell are you talkin' 'bout? You's was just pushed aside like a bag in the wind!" Beelzemon exclaimed while switching to his blast mode, growing irritated by the monsters arrogance, he just want to kill this giant green jackass so they could get their friend the help he needed.

"You fools truly don't know what you have done" Titamon chuckled, his laughter finally calming down "My power is generated by anger itself, you cannot face me with malice in your hearts, you'll only make me stronger! Oh, and you pests hate me so much for what I have done to your leader. Thanks to you, I'm even stronger now than when I faced the knight!"

"We'll see about that", Justimon shouted from behind the gloating mega " **Justice Burst** ". Firing three balls of blinding white lightning, Ryo smirked inside of Justimon's Digicore as the attack flew towards their target. The green virus just smirked as he spun to face the attack, slashing his golden sword through the white balls of lightning, sending sparks of energy dissipating outward as the attack was neutralized.

" **Corona Blaster** ", Beelzemon shouted as he flew up next to Sakuyamon, whom was charging her own attack, before firing his blast of powerful, pink of energy.

" **Spirit Strike** ", Sakuyamon roared once again, allowing her attack to merge with Beelzemon's, amplifying the power of both attacks to greater levels. Titamon remained unfazed, however as he simply leapt out of the path and straight towards Justimon. The Vaccine mega was still in shock from his earlier attack failing that he was unable to dodge as the colossus grabbed him. The green goliath chuckled as he harshly threw the struggling cyborg over to where he once stood, directly in the path of the fusion attack. Justimon let out an agonized scream when the attack struck him, sending him tumbling across the field.

"Now that's just cheating and cheaters get squashed", sounded MegaGargomon's voice from above as he brought his enormous foot down on his smaller opponent. Titamon chuckled manically before slamming his fist into the walking fortresses foot as it got close enough, the force of the blow sending the towering Digimon's leg back into the air, knocking MegaGargomon off balance and sending him tumbling onto his back. Not wasting the distraction, Beelzemon flew higher into the sky to begin charging his stronger Corona technique, while Justimon groggily stood back up and attempted to flank his target once again.

" **Voltage Blade** ", Justimon shouted from behind Titamon, aiming to cut the green virus on the weakened skin from Gallantmon's earlier attack, but before his attack could connect the goliath spun around and matched the robotic blade with his own golden one. Trying to push past the enemy's sword, Justimon didn't notice his opponent's free had reach up and grab him by the torso. With a harsh squeeze, causing Justimon to gasp out in pain, Titamon yanked the cyborg to the side before throwing him at the floating demon lord. Beelzemon, having just finished the third line of his attack was unable to do anything as Justimon crashed through the air where he was drawing his attack and crashing into him, causing both megas to plummet towards the earth, landing with a sickening crunch.

"Are you sure you are the tamers?" Titamon asked in exasperation "because this is just disappointing. I think even with those injuries, that child could do better." The mention of Takato's injuries brought new fury to Sakuyamon, as she unleashed a berserk scream before charging the Virus mega, staff posed to stab out her targets eyes. Seeing the Data type flying towards him, the Virus type couldn't help but chuckle. Sakuyamon thrust the pointed end of her staff forward in a blood crazed rage. Titamon merely swung his enormous sword into the side of the golden rod, cutting it in two. The extended portion of the staff was sent flying harmlessly to the side, Sakuyamon's eyes widened at the loss of her weapon. The shaman Digimon was so distracted at how easily her attack was countered, she was helpless as Titamon grabbed her still extended arms in a bone crushing grip and smashed his armored helm in her head, the nose of her fox mask snapping of and shattering into loose data. "My, what anger you have there", the titan Digimon growled, bringing the fox woman close to his face "What beautiful hatred."

With a slimy sneer, Titamon raised Sakuyamon into the air before throwing her down and he quickly raised his knee up. The Data type gasped in pain as she bounced off the green knee and back into the air, only to have swing his sword, smashing her with the blunt end of the blade. The priestess rocketed into the direction of Justimon and Beelzemon, whom both dodged to the sides as she came crashing down between them with a thundering boom and a cloud of dust. The dust cleared to reveal Rika and Renamon lying in a large crater, both badly beaten but awake. Thunderous footsteps drew everyone's attention as Titamon began stomping his way towards the down girl. Trying to protect their fallen comrade, Justimon and Beelzemon charge the goliath, only to have him stab his sword into the ground behind Justimon, snagging his red scarf and bringing him to an abrupt halt, before snatching Beelzemon mid charge, trapping the fellow Virus in a vice like grip. The colossus captured Justimon in his right hand with his right hand, tearing the scarf, before squeezing the two painfully as he stepped up to the panicking red head.

"Leave them alone! **Gargo Missiles** ", MegaGargomon boomed, having risen back to his feet, as he launched the two massive missiles on his shoulders. Titamon merely smirked as he turned to face the incoming threat before he threw the two prisoners in his grasp towards the incoming projectiles. The force at which they were tossed prevented Beelzemon and Justimon from moving out of the way of the incoming armaments, causing the two megas to crash into them and detonate the missiles long before they could get into range of damaging their intended target. A thick cloud of smoke formed at the missiles explosion and it wasn't long till the severely injured Impmon, Ryo and Monodramon came falling out of it, landing at MegaGargomon's feet. The larger mega looked down at his friends in dread as Titamon leapt through the smoke. The smaller, green mega struck the larger with a powerful fist, caving in the towering Digimon's metal body, before slashing the weakened metal, leaving a deep cut. Not giving his opponent a chance to recover, Titamon scaled the large body of MegaGargomon before smashing the hilt of his blade into the fortress Digimon's face, leaving a dent and forcing him to glow and separate into his two pieces, Henry and Terriermon. The only standing mega landed in the center of the three rookies and two humans, before turning his attention to the girl struggling to stand back up.

"That was pathetic", Titamon grumbled as he began to stalk over towards his prey, intent on finishing the female first. Takato watched in silent horror as his last friend fell before the fiend that had forced him into becoming a bystander, only to see the goliath start making its way over to his fiery haired friend. Quick figuring out the beasts intentions, Takato felt his blood boil as his D-Ark sprung back to life and his red partners eyes snapped open, glowing a menacing red with power.

"Don't you fucking touch her!" the goggled teen roared as he and his partner pushed themselves back to their feet, their friends in the field eyes widened, whether that be from shock that their normally calm and polite leader just swore or that he had just rose to his feet with such severe injuries, even they didn't know, but the loud beeping of their Digivices went unnoticed in their shock " **Biomerge Activate** " With that, the leader of the tamers and his partner were encased in a sphere of black energy, a purple mist shooting off into the sky, the remaining tamers D-arks flashing a red symbol on the screens: a triangle pointing down inside the outline of a circle and three more triangles, each with their own corners attached to the corners of the original.

"No", Jeri whimpered in fear, stumbling back from the television knocking her chair over in process. The Digital Hazard covered the screen, flashing menacingly. Kazu and Kenta leapt in front of the terrified girl, eyes wide and breathing with a panicked shaking. Then, as quickly as the symbol had appeared, it vanished, revealing a black cocoon surrounded by a purple mist.

"Bwahahahahahahahahaha, what wonderful hatred", Titamon bellowed in amusement "but you must not have heard me earlier, boy, you cannot beat me with malice, you'll only make me stron-". This was as much as the goliath said before an armored gauntlet buried itself in his stomach, sending the large Digimon flying into the trees far away from the shocked red head.

"Gogglehead?" Rika asked in shock, looking up expecting to see the white armor of the Royal Knight, Gallantmon. What she was definitely not the holy knight: black armor took the place of the normal white, the dark armor accented with a cool, dark blue instead of the normal bright red and bone chilling red eyes glared at the spot where Titamon had landed instead of the usual soft gold eyes she had grown use to. The shadow knight's right hand morphed into the demonic lance, Balmung, while his left shifted into the unholy shield, Gorgon, as he stood up with his shoulders dripping down it a tired slouch. As the dust cleared revealing the green Digimon, Titamon, bringing himself back to his feet, a hand planted firmly on where the knight had punched him, the black knight blurred out of sight, only to reappear in front of his winded opponent, Balmung raised into the air above his left shoulder.

" **Cruel Balmung** ", a voice whispered into the minds of everyone present, as if the wind itself was hissing the words to them, before the dark warrior brought his lance down on the side of Titamon's head, sending the beast flying once more. Stabbing his massive sword into the ground, the goliath brought himself to a grinding halt as he turned to face the knight that dared to send him flying twice, the target of the glare already walking calmly in his direction. A berserker roar sounded through the park as Titamon charged the unholy knight sword raised high to cut the arrogant fuel into ribbons. The green monster brought his golden blade down on his target, only to come to a jerking stop as the dark knight's shield turned into his left hand once more and caught the sharp blade with little effort. Two pairs of menacing red eyes glared into each other as the smaller mega lifted the brute and his sword before casually throwing the two into the center of the clearing, with his single that had stumped the blade. The black knight began his march towards his prey as the beast dawned a look of confusion.

"ChaosGallantmon", the voice of Ryo Akiyama said softly, no small hint of fear, causing Rika to turn her head towards the source as Ryo had his arm around Henry, using the younger boy as support while they made their way over to check on their red haired friend "Virus type, Dark Knight Digimon, Mega level, the Walking Apocalypse, made from a once holy knight that has lost his heart and has been consumed by his own blood lust, his Chaos Shot and Judecca Prison attacks leave no survivors, friend or foe."

"This doesn't make sense", Titamon roared, glaring at the approaching knight "how has your anger made you this powerful without increasing my power just as much! I am the ultimate being of hatred; any power gained through that emotion is my power!" The black knight did not answer him, merely continued its approach, eyes glued to its target. The air around ChaosGallantmon seemed to peel back in fear as the unholy knight's pace quickened, his hand morphing back into Gorgon. Titamon, seeing the increase in his opponents speed, quickly rose to his feet and brought his sword back in preparation of another attack.

" **Soul Core-Attack** ", the goliath shouted as the ChaosGallantmon got into range, swinging the sword down onto the knight charging him. As the blade was about to strike its target, the knight vanished, only to reappear inside the goliaths defenses, well past the golden sword. Titamon could do nothing as his armored adversary drove its lance into his left shoulder, the pointed tip of the weapon bursting out of his back. The green goliath could only begin his scream of agony before the knight heaved him into the air with enough force to rip the arm off and send him flying, the appendage soaring away shortly before shattering in the air. Titamon growled in anger, knowing he would not be given the luxury to dwell on the injury, and quickly took in his surroundings. The colossus had landed directly in front of the other tamers, whom watched him with wide eyes. Suddenly, a maddening screech sounded through the area as ChaosGallantmon pointed his head to the sky and let loose an ungodly noise; a horrifying amalgamation that seemed to come from everywhere at once, no Takato nor Guilmon heard, only the sound of the wind vibrating like the planet its cried out in pain. Turning his gaze, Titamon spotted the shadow knight still standing in the spot from which it had thrown the goliath, shield pointed in his direction, dark symbols already beginning to glow.

"No! Not again! Not again!" Jeri Katou screamed gripping her head tightly, eyes closed tight as terror seared its way into her voice and actions.

"Jeri, calm down", Kenta urged, confidence underlined with fear in his voice "it's not Megidramon, just calm down!"

"Dude, I think this may be worse than Megidramon", Kazu stated, panic filled eyes watching the screen closely.

"Shut the hell up, Kazu, you're not helping" Kenta snapped back, though he could not find himself disagreeing.

"You won't launch that attack here", the green giant bellowed with a slight laugh "you'll kill your allies along with me!" All the eyes in the group grew larger as the symbols continued to grow brighter, all knowing that the monsters words were true. Seeing no end to the symbols glowing, Titamon did the only thing that came to mind; he leapt through the air towards his dark knight, sword poised to bringing down on the armored fool.

" **Judecca Prison** ", came a sinister whisper as the knight moved his shield slightly up, pointing it at the descending titan. The goliath could only watch as a deep blue, almost purple, bolt of energy burst from the center of the shield and sped towards him. The attack of unholy energy hit its mark as it collided with Titamon's chest before burst out his back, reversing the beast motions and sending him back into the air. The dark energy roared over the trees and into the sky before dissipating, leaving its target to soar clear over the injured tamers, crashing through several think trees before finally coming to a stop in a cloud of dust and wood particles. The cloud vanished to reveal Titamon, one arm missing and a massive hole clear through his chest, glaring at all the tamers; a Digigate humming softly to his side, already sucking the behemoth in and back to the digital world.

"I'll be back, you fucking insects! I'll keep getting stronger till I'm so powerful even your knight will fall before me!" Titamon roared as the last of his data was brought into the gate, the portal closing behind him leaving the world in an awkward silence. The silence didn't last long as the twisted knight looked towards the sky once again, the Digital Hazard symbols glowing a menacing red, and released another mortifying scream, but this screech however slowly morphed into the duel voices of Takato and Guilmon as ChaosGallantmon slow turned into a pitch black shadow, his body seeming to suck in all light around him similar to a black hole, before shattering apart leaving behind an unconscious Takato and Guilmon. Takato's wounds seemed to come back to life as well as when he fell onto the earth a pool of blood quickly began to form around him.

End of Chapter 1

Ending Authors Notes:

Okay so this may have gone on for a lot longer than I was expected, I just got so caught up in what I was writing that I may have gone a bit over board. I really hope you all enjoyed the chapter I had a ton of fun writing it. If you did enjoy it please consider liking it, as that will help other people that may enjoy it to find it. If you would, please review as I would love to hear what you think and how I can improve my writing. I promise I'll update my other stories soon, and this one will also be updated soon, I'm already working on the next chapter. I hope to see you all again! Have a wonderful day!


	2. Chapter 2

Author Notes:

Okay, so I'm back and I'll try to keep this brief. I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter. I reread my first chapter and found a few typos, only about five give or take, which is to be expected. With this in mind, I will be trying my best to avoid any further mistakes, however minor they may be. This chapter will be much slower and shorter than the previous, as this is to merely set up the story more and move the plot along (things will get a little more out there, but I'll try to explain things as best I can without spoiling anything). I hope you this doesn't come as too much of a disappointment, I love writing battles but mindless violence every chapter wouldn't make all that much sense. Thanks to everyone that read/favorite/followed/reviewed the previous chapter. A special thanks to Crazyeight and Naito Writer, for pointing out mistakes I made in my previous chapter (helping me to improve my writing) and giving me ideas for this chapter, respectively. Enjoy the new chapter and I would love to hear your opinions on it!

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Chapter 2:

It was a melancholy night in Shinjuku, all eyes downcast at the disheartening events of the day; their heroes were injured, the shining knight of justice has fallen in battle and was badly wounded. The images of the heart wrenching scene plagued the minds of all that witnessed the broadcast, how their knight in shining armor struggled and fought valiantly but was still over come in the end. The news of the event spread quickly, all hearts and minds praying for their protectors well being. In a depressed silence, no one noticed a new cloud materialize in the once clear sky, no one notice the two silhouettes that formed in the floating mist. The night's full moon shined bright into the recently formed fog, revealing two figures; a massive armored giant, pitch black armor accented with gold and a snow, white cape flowing softly through the water particles. On the shoulder of the large knight stood another armored humanoid, twelve feet tall, well over three meters tall, an equally armored silhouette stood with two hammers for hands and a shining golden body, a feathery white cape dancing behind him as well. The cloud soon disappeared as quickly as it formed, leaving the two in the night sky, gazing down on the city in search of those they came to find.

######

Yamaki sat at his desk, basked in the light from his office's lamp. The business man's sunglasses placed neatly to the side as he ran his hands through his blond hair. The leader of Hypnos scanned the papers in front of him once more, trying to collect his scattered thoughts. " _This doesn't make any sense_ ", the blonde man mused " _Why couldn't our sensors pick up something so powerful? Why hadn't the tamers D-Arks gone off to warn them? Why were the tamers so late? The school insisted that someone come and relieve them, but why should that matter? Hell, why didn't they just leave? Why was the news able to find out about that thing before we did? How did it even get to this world so stealthily? How was it able to open a portal back to its own world_?"

The thoughts of the incidents ending brought a new wave of headaches to the grown man, " _What was that form? How long has Takato been able to do that?_ " he wondered in his mind, " _And what is that symbol? That damned thing hasn't appeared since the children were in the digital world, and it nearly ripped the entire internet apart back then. Did something happen there too? I never even thought about it since the D-Reaper… Should I ask them about it? Anything they may know might help sort this out._ " These thoughts rolled over in Yamaki's mind as his eyes trailed over to his agent's report, the agent that was in the classroom when the symbol made its appearance.

" _No_ ", the business man thought firmly, remembering the report of Miss Katou's reaction " _At least, not yet. Whatever that thing is, it clearly has bad memories tied to it, and they have enough to deal with as is. I'll need to wait till things calm down and he wakes up, before I can bring something like this up._ " The blond man relinquished a frustrated sigh before rereading the field reports, only one was missing, the report of the one that had been there the longest: the report from Takato Matsuki.

######

The first thought that crossed Takato's mind was, " _How did I get into the digital world, much less the Sovereigns' plane?_ " The goggled boy quickly realized his mistake as he took in his surroundings more thoroughly. The ground of the Digital Guardians' realm was not a brown sandstone color. The sky was red towards the horizon, not in the center of the sky before melting into an orange at the edges of view, glowing with the light of distant flames. The air of the highest plane of the digital world did not sting with the smell of sulfur and ash. This was not the Sovereigns' domain that was something Takato was certain of. Closely taking in every detail, the leader of the tamers soon took notice of the young man standing no more than ten feet away. The boy looked exactly like the young tamer, wearing the outfit of his younger days, stretched to fit the more adult body. The duplicate watched Takato with the glowing red eyes of Megidramon, a confident smile plastered on his face as the bewildered tamer finally took notice of him.

"Um, who are you?" the gogglehead question, trying to keep his voice confident, but his nervousness seeped through. The only response Takato received was the other boys smile widening as he continued to stare "Okay, um, uh what is this place?" the brown haired boy questioned, hoping to get some information.

"Welcome, Takato Matsuki", the mysterious boy replied in a voice similar to Takato's, only deeper and dripping with unmistakable arrogance "It has been quiet a long time. It is good to have you back."

######

Henry Wong rolled his neck in hopes of relieving its stiffness, the hospital benches were not meant to be slept on. The hospital had set aside a moderately sized waiting room for the tamers and their family, while at the moment it only housed Henry and his parents, Rika and her parents, Takato's parents, Ryo, Jeri, Kazu and Kenta, as well as the Digimon. Opening his eyes, the young, Chinese man saw a familiar mass of red hair moving back and forth in front of him. After Titamon had been forced into a retreat, the young man was rushed to the paramedics, whom were shocked the boy was alive at all, let alone treatable. They quickly stabilized the bleeding boy on the way to the hospital, immediately rushing him into the Emergency Room. After getting their own wounds treated, and filing field reports for Yamaki, the remaining tamers were quick to learn that the doctors were still hard at work on their friend. Rika immediately settled into pacing about the waiting room, a deep scowl of fear and worry plastered on her face; the others chose to take seats scattered throughout the room.

Turning a groggy eye to the clock, " _it's barely six in the morning_ ", he thought " _Has she been doing that all night?_ " Seeing the red haired was deep in thought and wasn't going to stop anytime soon, Henry decided to voice his concerns, "Rika, have you slept at all?" The voice of her friend made the fiery teen stop her repetitive action and turn to look at the clock.

"It's been that long already?" Rika mumbled to herself before shaking her head clear and turning to Henry with an annoyed glare, "What of it, Braniac?"

"Rika", Henry began, a frown quickly forming on his tired face "you need to rest. Takato wouldn't want you worrying yourself to death."

"What makes you think I'm worried about Gogglehead?" the read head said, her pride getting the better of her, before turning away with a faint blush. Henry merely chuckled, he knew even after years of friendship and her little show in class yesterday, his fellow tamer wasn't going to admit she was worried, despite all the evidence she was.

"Well, for one thing, I think your starting to make a groove in the floor", the Chinese boy said in a teasing tone, letting a small smile grace his lips. Rika merely growled in response, turning a deep red at having been called out. Terriermon's tamer let his smile broaden at having the upper hand in the conversation, something that was rare when talking to the Digimon Queen.

"Are you saying you're not worried?" the temperamental teen growled out, turning a fierce glare to the newly awakened boy.

"Of course I am, Rika, but Takato wouldn't want you to exhaust yourself worrying about him", Henry insisted, a frown making itself present on his face once more.

"Yeah, well, maybe he should worry about himself more, rather than other people", Rika snapped back, lowering her head in an attempt to hide her lips starting to quiver, as a new wave of sadness surged through her. Henry opened his mouth to respond, but was stopped when the sound of the waiting room doors opening. Turning to the doorway quickly, the two teenagers saw the doctor that was working on Takato shuffle his way in, obviously having finished whatever treatment there was for the boy not long prior. In a fraction of a second, the young tamers began to wake up the other occupants of the room, Rika beginning with the goggled boy's parents before moving to her own, gently shaking them awake. Henry first woke up his own parents before moving to the Digimon that slumbered in the corner, Renamon having had to force Guilmon to rest there instead of trying to charge towards his tamer.

As the parents quickly began to shake sleep from their eyes, Rika noticed the challenge Henry was having trying to awaken the exhausted creatures, only Renamon being easy to bring out of the realm of dream. Sighing to herself, the fiery haired teen knew she was left to awaken the other tamers in the room. Rika was as gentle as possible with her best female friend, Jeri Katou, taking care not to startle the emotional girl. With the brown haired girl slowly bringing herself to her senses, stress from the prior day having taken its toll on the poor girl, the Digimon Queen turned her amethyst eyes to the three remaining male tamers, sleeping in a clump on three folding chairs near the middle of the room. Smirking as a way to wake up of three annoyances came to mind, Rika smoothly walked behind the chairs before leaning down and grabbing hold of the metal legs. In one swift motion, the red haired tamer stood up, bringing the chairs with her, sending the three boys tumbling forward with yelps of fright and surprise. The sudden noise brought everyone to attention, with the exception being the heavy sleeping red reptile, as Rika dusted her hands off with a smug look upon her face, happy with the results of her plan.

"Well, I have good news and bad news", the doctor said calmly as the noise started to settle down, all eyes turned to him as all the previous sound simply vanished.

######

"What do you mean back?" Takato questioned his double with a confused frown "I've never been here before, what even is here?"

"You don't remember this place?" the copy smoothly replied, his smile only growing larger "This is the place where you come in your darkest hours; when Growlmon was losing against the tiger Deva, Mihiramon you came here to attain the power to reach Ultimate level, and when Megidramon lost to Beelzemon, you came here to bring our partner back and gain access to Biomerging."

"Wha" the leader of the tamers began before memories of his adventures flooded back "Wait, that is this place, but what about the ground and that orange glow, and that still doesn't answer what this place is?"

"The ground represents your confidence", the second gogglehead said, stepping forward and beginning to circle the confused boy "as your experience grew as did the ground. The orange is from the flames of guilt, the more you blame yourself the brighter they glow. As for where we are, well, technically we are inside your Digivice, a space of connected consciousness."

######

"He's alive", the doctor said, to the relief of everyone present, the couples present hugging each other at the heart lifting news, before clarifying "barely, it's nothing short of a miracle that he survived long enough for use to treat him. He's in bad shape, a cut so deep that he's basically in half, nearly his bones are broken or damaged, severe internal bleeding and his blood pressure is so low we can't actually figure out how he survived, but we're not looking a gift horse in the mouth."

"Can we see him", Rika interrupted impatiently, not wasting any time in wanting to see her injured friend.

"I would not recommend it just yet" the medical professional replied without missing a beat, as if half expecting the worried girl's response "I'm sorry, but Mr. Matsuki's wounds are quiet severe, it astonishing he pulled through at all, but we are unsure how long it will take for him to wake up, if he ever does."

"Don't mind Wildcat, she's just worried about her boyfriend", Ryo said quickly, eager to tease the girl after the way she had woke him up moments ago. The legendary tamer yelped in pain as he received a harsh kick to the shin, courtesy of the now crimson faced girl.

"He is not my boyfriend", the fiery tamer all but shouted, whilst turning a deep crimson, much to everyone's enjoyment, with the parents being the exception as they were more focused on the doctors words. Ryo opened his mouth to continue mocking Rika before a loud crash followed by the building shaking distracted him. In a sudden shift back to a serious attitude, the tamers ran straight for the door with their partners in tow. The red dinosaur, Guilmon continued to sleep soundly, dead to the world, as the awake tamers exited the hospital and came face to face with the massive Digimon that had landed in front of the building, creating the enormous disturbance.

######

"Um, can you dumb that down a bit" asked Takato in embarrassment, his clone's smile vanishing instantly as he turned to face the original.

"To put it simply, think of this as your dream world, housed inside your D-Ark." The deeper voice of the second Takato sighed out.

"Wait, if this is my dream world than what are you doing here, and who are you anyways?" the tamer's leader questioned, still not understanding what was happening.

"Well, who I am and what I am doing here are actually relatively similar answers", the duplicate casually replied, grinning at the original, only to sweat drop at the confused look he received in return "like I said this world is held inside your Digivice, do to your connection with our partner, you are able to access it, normally when he needs your emotional connection the most. I however solely exist here; I am an AI program created by King Drasil himself, and he was the one to install me into you and your D-Ark. However, you may recognize the symbol of my presence more: the Digital Hazard."

######

"Alphamon", Ryo gasped out, pulling his D-Ark and scanning the massive knight, standing with both arms crossed over its chest "Vaccine type, Holy Knight Digimon, Mega level, the Aloof Hermit, the leader of the Royal Knights that only appears when the Digital world is in great danger, his Soul Digitization and Divine Sword Grade Alpha attacks decimate anyone that opposes him."

"Jupitermon", Rika growled spotting the golden, armored figure standing next to Alphamon "Vaccine type, God Man Digimon, Mega level, the Grand Judge, It is always judging good and evil on the battlefield, and metes out divine punishment to those who choose evil, his Mabolt and Wide Plasment eradicate all he finds guilty." The red head took a quick glance at the surrounding, the concrete ground was broken apart under the massive knight, the knight was nearly twice the size of the three story hospital behind her, but luckily there was little debris scattered around indicating that instead of crashing down, the knight merely landed and his size had created those tremors. The sun was only beginning to rise and normal visiting hours for the hospital had yet to begin, as a result the area was pretty clear of civilians, those that were there appeared to of had the foresight to get inside or away from the easily seen mega before he landed.

This brought a single thought to Rika's mind, " _Why was there no one at the park yesterday? It's one of the biggest parks in the whole city, but it was completely deserted…_ " The female tamer frowned at the thought, trying to remember if she remembered anyone besides the paramedics being anywhere within a mile of the park, but she didn't remember seeing anyone; was she just not paying attention, it is normally one of the busiest places and in the middle of the city there was no even near it when the battle began. The Digimon Queen didn't have much of a chance to dwell on these thoughts however, as a pale green light behind her brought her back to reality.

"Alright, big boy, what do you say we take this somewhere away from people, 'cause if you want to get to Takato, you'll have to go through me!" MegaGargomon shouted as he materialized between Alphamon and the hospital, taking up the little space that separated the two. Alphamon stood firmly at MegaGargomon's chest, not so much at flinching under the taller mega's glare.

" _Why wasn't that a concern yesterday_ ", Rika thought whilst narrowing her purple eyes at the green mega, unknowingly replicating Henry's own thoughts after his words had left his mouth. That train of thought was cut short when the massive knight raised his right gauntlet up to the side his head, palm open facing MegaGargomon in a pacifying gesture.

"We are not here to fight, Tamers, we do not intend to cause Matsuki any harm", Alphamon said in a peaceful royal tone, but not taking his eyes off the green mega in case he moved to attack.

"Imma afraid we're gonna have to call bullshit on dat!" Beelzemon shouted as he leapt to the right, landing to the side of Jupitermon before pulling out his twin shotguns, Berenjena and pointing them at the God Man "First, a mega showed up yesterday out da blue, went straight for our friend and attempted to kill 'im, then, the next fucking day, two more megas show up outta nowhere and go straight for the hospital he's at. Ya think we're fuckin' stupid?"

"Be that as it may", Jupitermon spoke up in a tone as if he were explaining a simple problem to a child, his voiced layered with undeniable holy power "we are only here to talk about the incident yesterday. If we wanted to fight, we would have attacked before even landing."

"Oh yeah, well prove it" MegaGargomon retaliated, not wanting to admit that had been a good point, but still unwilling to let his guard down. The leaders of the Royal Knights and Olympus XII looked at one another before nodding in mutual understanding. The two armored Digimon allowed themselves to be enveloped in a golden light as their forms began to change. Where the two megas once stood, two ultimates now took their place.

A Digimon stood seven feet, just over two meters, tall where Alphamon once stood. The new Digimon was adorn in golden armor with red accents and a tattered blue cape, the armor seeming to glow in the dawning light as the cape flowed majestically. The golden Digimon, Grademon, let out a grunt of annoyance before turning to the second ultimate. Where there was once the God Man, Jupitermon, now there was a five foot, one and a half meters, goat man. The goat humanoid, Aegiochusmon Holy, still had the feathery white cape as Jupitermon, but now had a pair of white shorts on as well. The left side of the new God Man Digimon's face and chest now had smooth gold plating. Aegiochusmon Holy's arms were adorned with twin golden gauntlets with what appeared to be golden gears attached to the hands.

"Will this suffice", Grademon sighed, not enjoying the feeling of lowering his power while having two megas armed and ready to attack him. The transformation seemed to ease the two megas, but they still remained at the ready, while two ultimates were easier to handle they could still prove to be deadly.

"Alright", Ryo said in a calculating tone while stepping forward, Monodramon falling in step behind him "let's talk".

######

"You see", the AI program continued, turning his back to Takato "I was created with three abilities: data empowerment, data manipulation and… shall we say… virus protection"

"The Digital Hazard", the gogglehead mumbled, his mind going blank as he tried to process what he was just told.

"Is my symbol, yes", the program said, slightly annoyed that his explanation was being ignored "You wanted to know who I am, so the least you can do is pay attention. Anyways, being a false intelligence, I lacked emotions, so my personality evolved off of the feeling of those that I was installed into. I feed off of your raw emotions and in exchange I give those I am connected to power.

"The Digital Hazard", Takato mumbled again, still not hearing a word the other was saying "like as in… Megidramon?"

"Is that what you're hung up on?" the duplicate said, turning around to face the original with a slight frown "Yes, Megidramon was an offspring of my power, the sheer hatred you fed me was more than enough to get me to lend you the power to Digivolve Guilmon into that form." The AI's eyes widened when Takato suddenly lashed out and grabbed him by the neck of his blue hoodie.

"It was your fault?!" Takato hissed, turning a glare of pure rage onto the program "You turned my partner into that fucking monstrosity!?"

"In all honesty", the clone replied coolly, a confident smirk gracing his lips "I merely gave you the power you were asking for and you gave me such intense emotions to feed on in exchange. A shame you calmed down so quickly though, your hatred was quiet delicious." As those final words left his mouth the AI program's head was sent sharply to the left as Takato slammed his fist into the side of his jaw.

"It's your fucking fault?! You nearly killed my friends! You nearly destroyed the whole fucking world! And you have the fucking nerve to blame me for that shit! I've been blaming myself for the past six god damn years, and now I found out you were to blame and you just act like it's a fucking joke! You talk about one of the worst days of my life like it was a fond memory!?" the tamer roared, seething in anger. The feeling that pulsed through Takato didn't go unnoticed by the hungry AI as his eyes shined brighter and he took a deep breath in, as if he were inhaling a pleasant aroma.

"My, my, Takato, you have quiet the temper", the AI quipped back, a smug smile never leaving his face "But, it seems you are confused, Megidramon didn't nearly kill any of your friends. You ordered him to destroy Beelzemon and that is the only target he went after; and the only reason the digital world was even in danger was because your D-Ark broke, it gave Megidramon's power an escape route, ever seen a pool with a hole in the side? The water pours out and destroys the lawn, which is basically what happened there. Funny enough that's actually why Beelzemon won, but don't worry we've upgraded since then."

######

"What are you talking about", Yamaki growled into his office's phone, the sun was just beginning enter through the window and he was already too tired to argue.

"I asked you why you threatened to place me and Mr. Tanaka under arrest if we let the tamers go before your agent arrived", the equally angry voice of Reo Nakamura, the principle of the tamers school, snapped back "I thought we had a deal after the incident with Shioda that you just had to call and get them out, hell you had them all moved to the same class to make it easier! Wong was invited to more prestigious schools and you made him turn them down just so that they would all be together! So, why did you make us sit around waiting for your agent to arrive while watching Matsuki fight that thing alone! You even threatened to take away the positions you were offering them after they graduated and make them redo the entire year, you know how hard they all have been working to be able to work there! They are under my protection and their futures under my care, yet the boy was nearly killed and I want some damn answers, why it was so important that we wait!"

"And I asked you, what are you talking about", Yamaki shouted into the phone, finally losing his patience "when I called, you demanded that we send someone down to relieve them, saying that you were done with the favoritism! You were the one that threatened to make them redo the year, not me!"

"Um, sir", Riley squeaked as she timidly opened the office door. The blond haired man was not answering her over the pager, so she came to alert him in person.

"What", Yamaki roared to his employ, turning a fierce glare to the young woman; irritated that she interrupted his argument.

"The Tamers are here to see you, sir. It is very important and cannot wait" the red haired Hypnos employ replied, not being unnerved by the man's anger.

"We'll continue this later", Yamaki mumbled into the phone before sharply hanging up; he turned to leave the room while slipping his shades on "Where are they?"

"Room D-1014, sir. They didn't give many details, but when I saw their guests I immediately tried to page you, but you weren't answering so I came here myself."

"Guests?" the man questioned to himself, possibilities raging through his mind "Never mind, I'll see when I get there. Riley, I want you to pull up the recording of my call to Mr. Nakamura from yesterday. I'll go see what the Tamers want."

"Okay, but why, sir?" Riley replied, not sure why he needed it at the moment, didn't he remember it?

"Because" Yamaki growled as he began to make his way down the hall and to the elevator "something is not adding up."

######

"How long", Takato mumbled into his knees, he had finally started to come to terms with the information presented to him and now the two had just settled into an uncomfortable silence.

"You're gonna have to be more specific", the AI replied in a bored tone, he had merely settled to lying on his back, watching the crimson sky.

"How long have you been installed into me?" Takato grumbled, raising his head to look at his counterpart.

"Well", the program began whilst turning his head to face the leader of the tamers "if you had ever bothered to talk to Rika and Henry about when they got their Digivices, you would have found it odd that when you slid the blue card it sent sparks flying out of your card reader, and took a full school day to transform."

"That long?" Takato asked in astonishment, remembering the day vaguely but recognizing what he was told "… Why me? Why was I chosen to be your 'host'?"

"I already told you", the program growled, irritated at having to repeat himself "I was not created with emotions, so I needed a host to feed off of. I've been installed in a few Digimon, but Digimon lack strong emotions naturally, so I needed a human to truly evolve. You were chosen because you were one of four humans that would gain the power to merge with a Digimon partner. Rika, while she posses strong anger, denies herself a large portion of her own feeling, not letting herself feel happy for a long time. Henry has almost the opposite problem, due to his martial arts training he denies himself feelings of anger and fear; these are both necessary for humans to progress. Ryo simply has too much confidence to be a good host, I already have a steady income of pride, and I don't enjoy feeding off of one feeling from multiple sources. You, on the other hand, you wear your heart on your sleeve. You don't deny yourself from feeling anything, you look at your past and see your mistakes, but you learn from them and don't get arrogant. The ground here was formed from your confidence, but as that grew you never ignored your other feeling. With you it's like a new buffet of different feelings everyday!"

"Multiple sources?"Takato questioned, having been listening intently as he began to sit up straight.

"You merely host my core, Takato", the AI said, his confident smile returning once more "fragments of me have been installed across the Digital Server, placed into the Digimon that if they were to become corrupted would pose the greatest chance at destroying everything."

"Digital Server?" Takato asked there was so much he had to learn.

"The collection of Digital Worlds split into four quadrants each having their own human world connected to them. We're connected to the Southern Quadrant", the program replied dryly, he was starting to get bored now that Takato had calmed down.

"Oh", Takato said simply, sensing the others disdain. The two sat in quiet, while the gogglehead attempted to process the events of the past day, subconsciously running his hand over his chest. The minor action did not go unnoticed.

"Don't worry", the AI said calmly, turning his gaze to the horizon.

"What do you mean?" Takato asked in confusion, he had nearly been cut in half how could he not worry.

"Remember, one of my powers is data manipulation. When the Sovereign gave you the power to biomerge they turned you into partial data. I'm manipulating that data to heal you and keep both you and our partner alive. So, don't worry, the damage was severe but not to the point that I couldn't do anything", the program explained, not moving his gaze from the glowing orange flames.

"Our partner?" the gogglehead asked, already not liking the answer he would get.

"I was installed into you, and Guilmon bares my symbol. He's as much my partner as he is yours", the program stated as if explaining a simple fact to a child. Takato merely nodded, and settled back into his thoughts of the day, of the battle. It wasn't long until the AI noticed the light of the flames along the horizon begun to glow brighter, symbolizing Takato was feeling guilt.

"What's wrong now", the duplicate growled in exasperation, can't the kid just relax.

"I just started thinking about the battle, about… about all the people that must have gotten hurt", Takato said solemnly, burring his face deeper into his knees.

"Don't", the clone stated, shifting his gaze back to the boy "I manipulated the data in the air and cleared out the air as much as I could. You'd be surprised what a warning from 'Hypnos' could do, and hive mentality got the ball rolling. Luckily most people carry a little computer around now so it wasn't too hard to do. I used a bit more of my power to set your and the tamers mind at ease, if only subconsciously, so you wouldn't hold back. We couldn't afford to hold back."

"Well, uh, thanks, I guess", Takato mumbled as the flames on the horizon began to dim once more.

"Don't mention it", the program said, growing bored once again.

"So, um, what, uh, what do I call you?" Takato asked after a brief moment of silence, turning to look at his duplicate.

######

End of Chapter 2

######

Ending Author Notes:

Okay, so I had more planned for this chapter, but I felt this would actually make a good stopping point. I know this may have gotten a bit out there, but hopefully I explained things enough. I hope you all like the chapter, and the next shouldn't take too long. I did however get inspiration for another story while writing this chapter, so be on the lookout for that! Thanks again to all those that read and reviewed my previous chapter, I took your input and advice and tried to improve on this one. I hope to see you all next time!


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